Lust, Caution

Se, Jie; Thriller-drama, China/ Taiwan/ USA, 2007; D: Ang Lee, S: Tang Wei, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Leehom Wang, Joan Chen

Hong Kong during the Second Sino-Chinese War. A group of patriotic theater performers decides to assassinate Mr. Yee, the high ranking official of the collaboration government that works for the Japanese. The young and inexperienced actress Wong Chia is selected as a spy, infiltrates Yee's social circle and seduces him. But he suddenly leaves for Shanghai whereas the group has to kill one of his agents who discovered them...4 years later, Chia is again approached to seduce Mr. Yee in Shanghai. She succeeds, they start an affair, but just when he is about to fall in the trap, she saves his life by telling him to run for his life. He then captures the resistance members, her included, and executes them.

"Lust, Caution" would go in a perfect double-bill with "The Black Book", "Mata Hari" and other spy films where the female agent slowly seduces a high ranking official. Nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA as best foreign language film, "Lust" is overlong, but unravels just the right way until the climax, mostly thanks to the understated, but effective direction by Ang Lee that makes even the empty-artificial melodrama scenes seem gripping, and the splendid performance by actress Tang Wei who steals the show. The story isn't anything new, the way it was crafted isn't anything new, but it works non-the less: the two stand out moments that distinguish the story from the grey territory are somewhere in the first third of the film, when Wong Chia is suppose to seduce Mr. Yee, but her female associate asks her cautiously if she has "any experience with men". Chia doesn't, and thus one of the male resistance members goes to bed with her to "prepare" her for the event. The other moment is brutal, a dark and uncompromisingly agonizing long sequence where the young and clumsy resistance members stab an enemy agent who discovered them over a dozen time with a knife, but he just stands up and still has the power to walk, much to their shock. The three intercourse sequences involving Chia and Yee are also bizarre and completely anti-romantic. Much of the praise has to go to the ending that poses some contemplative messages about life and choice.

Grade:+++

Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain; Drama, USA, 2005; D: Ang Lee, S: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid

Wyoming in '63. Cowboys Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist apply for a job as sheep guards on the isolated Brokeback mountain. As days pass by the two youngsters are getting more and more bored. One night they become drunk and half-conscious have intercourse. The next day they both soberly say they are not gay. After their job expires, they part their ways. Ennis gets married to Alma, while Jack gets married to Lureen. But after a few years, they meet again and their love awakens again. For 20 years, they have a secret affair, until Jack dies in a bizarre way in Texas. Ennis stays alone, hugging his jacket.

Unusual gay drama crafted like a normal romance, "Brokeback Mountain" was an ambitious excursion of director Ang Lee into not your run-of-the-mill cowboy film. "Brokeback" starts routinely yet becomes more and more intense with time, until it finishes on a high note. However, there's a difference between an emotional story and an emotional story with masterful touch, and the film has some problems with the later since, if one would just drop the "controversial" gay tangle, it would look just like an ordinary affair film. Director Lee captures the beautiful images of the Wyoming countryside, actors Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway all delivered top-notch performances that any actor would be proud of, the cinematography is amazing and the lyrical charge is strong. The understated-minimalistic story doesn't show much, but cleverly gives an analysis of how society is creating invisible boundaries, while some of the situations are wonderfully written: one of the best ones is when Lureen has an obvious crush on Jack, who is sitting passively at the bar. She then approaches him and humorously says: "What are you waiting for, cowboy? A matting call?" It's a quality film, yet still somehow too sterile, stiff, grey and mechanical. The finale where Ennis is hugging Jack's jacket is one of the most poetic moments of the decade, and it's a pity the whole film wasn't such a powerful event up until that point.

Grade:++

Hulk

Hulk; Fantasy drama, USA, 2003; D: Ang Lee, S: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connely, Nick Nolte, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas

Bruce Banner works as a scientist in a laboratory and is in love with Betty. But her father Ross once banished Bruce's father David who also worked in the laboratory since he caused a gamma explosion and accidentally killed his wife. After an accident, radiation exposes Bruce's genes and he, during frustration, transforms into the powerful green Hulk. The army captures Hulk, but he escapes and confronts his also mutates father. Bruce survives, calms down and stays secretly working in a rain-forest.

When the expensive "Hulk" finally saw the light of the day during the premiere, it barely managed to cover its expenses in the US, whereas the critics characterised it as a huge letdown. True, the story is uneven, the drama of the characters too dry and theatrical whereas the finale where the Hulk has a fight with his father who also became a mutant who can take the shape of everything it touches (stone, water, electricity) is naive and pointless. However, "Hulk" is still a rather underrated and good film. Mostly thanks to the inventive calligraphy by director Ang Lee, the film turns out more agile than the most trashy movie adaptations of the Marvel comics. In one scene, Hulk breaks the door of the base, whereas thanks to the editing he also "breaks" the frame in the film. In his runaway through the desert he jumps from a picture to a picture of the canyon. He stumbles upon a tank, grabs and destroys it while the soldier in the background is looking at the spectacle. Bruce falls unconscious and, symbolically, the darkness slowly covers the screen. The split screen is often used etc. Lee's visual style is genius whereas the parallels between the frustrations and appearance of the mutated Hulk allegorically speaks about the rage that breaks loose during an intolerable crisis. Thus, it is a chaotic, but ambitious film.

Grade:++

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Wu hu cang long; Fantasy action drama, Taiwan/ China, 2000; D: Ang Lee, S: Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Chow Yun-Fat, Chen Chang, Sihung Lung

China during Qing Dynasty. Shu Lien brings an antique sword to Beijing. She is a very good fighter, secretly in love with colleague Bai. When the governor's daughter, Jen, shows up and steals the precious sword, commotion breaks out: her evil teacher Fox kills a police officer, Jen doesn't want to get married to a friend of her parents since he fell in love with a burglar she met in the desert. Jen runs away and starts a fight in a bar, but gets found by Bai. He arrives at a cave where he finds and kills Fox, but not before she poisons him. Bai admits Shu Lien before his death that he loves her, whereas Jen comes too late with an antidote. Legends says a wish will be granted to the one who jumps from a bridge: Jen jumps and flies oof in the distance.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is an ode to classic Chinese Wuxia (martial art) films, but it also has a psychological depth which gives it a certain advantage compared to the more simple action examples of that genre. For the huge amount of prizes - among others it won 4 Oscars, 4 BAFTA awards and 2 Golden Globes - the biggest merit goes to the feeling for exaggeration with sense in the 6 epic battle sequences: it's a virtuoso romantic action, where people slide in the air and jump over houses while the camera is always there to catch it on film. Ang Lee directs the film like an awakened dream, sometimes too unglamourous, yet with a very fine sense for rhythm, whereas Yuen Wo-Ping ("Matrix", "Charlie's Angels") was responsible for the wonderful choreography of the battle sequences. Still, these kind of films were seen regularly in China for decades before "Crouching Tiger", which is the reason why it wasn't at first depicted as something special in its homeland, whereas it's not quite clear who is suppose to be the main character in the plot, since it all starts with Michelle Yeoh, but then the charming Zhang Ziyi shows up and steals the show, remaining longer and longer in the story, until it ends with her. Yet, for all those magical "impossible" stunts, at least a small spark of charm in the film is hard to deny.

Grade:+++

Shadows

Senki; Mystery drama, Macedonia/ Germany/ Italy/ Bulgaria, 2007; D: Milčo Mančevski, S: Borče Nacev, Vesna Stanojevska, Salaetin Bilal, Sabina Ajrula-Tozija, Ratka Radmanović

Young doctor Lazar has a car accident and falls into coma. A year later, after recovering, his wife Gordana and little son stay behind at Ohrid lake for summer, while he goes to Skopje. Strange things start to happen: he finds an old woman in his apartment, who tells him in Aegian that he "should returns what doesn't belong to him". An old man with a baby falls down the elevator shaft and disappears. He meets Menka, a short haired woman, and falls in love with her, but she disappears too. It turns out that the old man and old lady are ghosts who want their bones to be buried. Lazar finds out his mother took their bones, so he buries them. But it turns out Menka was also a ghost.

Sometimes, a Luis Bunuel is born is Spain and is given a opportunity to fulfil his potentials in arts. But sometimes, a Louis Bunuel is born in Macedonia, and it's more difficult for him to get the opportunity to achieve what he wants in cinema. With "Shadows", director Milčo Mančevski shows his surreal side, though with a more emotional and dramatic engagement, creating an unusual, sometimes rewarding, sometimes ludicrous dramatic version of "The Sixth Sense". The film is definitely overlong and not planned enough, with the director inserting many shrill moments - in one humorous scene, for instance, a woman from a flat throws some foul food through her window on the street, while a passing lady accidentally step onto it with her shoe - and with the mystery-fantasy junction not quite turning into a harmonious whole with the story.

The best ingredients are the superb performances by the charismatic actor Borče Nacev and his female partner, Vesna Stanojevska, as the shrill Menka, since the two of them have fantastic chemistry: in one scene, for instance, Lazar enters her office and says: "Excuse me...", upon which she cynically adds: "You're excused". When he secretly follows her through the town, he loses her sight for a while, aimlessly looking for her - until she shows up right behind his back, giving him a stern look. The small erotic sequence where Lazar has intercourse with his wife Gordana, and suddenly imagines (?) that Menka shows up from the dark, takes her clothes off and kisses him, is the most bizarre moment of the film. Some things do get their payoff at the end, but most of them don't and seem just arbitrarily, which is why its a matter of an ambitious, but only good film.

Grade:++

Bugsy

Bugsy; Crime drama, USA, 1991; D: Barry Levinson, S: Warren Beatty, Anette Bening, Joe Mantegna, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould

America in the 40s. Ben "Bugsy" Siegel is a killer who works for the mafia in New York. When Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky send him to Los Angeles, he makes a singer sell him a house where he can live. With a few criminals, he opens betting offices while his friend George meets him with Vriginial Hill. When his betting office is robbed by criminal Cohen, he hires him to work for him. His dream is to open a casino is Las Vegas, Nevada. He finishes a hotel, but gets murdered because he invested too much mobster money into it. Virginia commits suicide.

Biographical film of anti-hero Ben Siegel, the man who founded casinos in Las Vegas because gambling wasn't forbidden there, won a Golden Globe for best picture - Drama and 2 Oscars for best set-design and costumes. "Bugsy" is a suspenseful and dynamic portrait, but too standard, not offering nothing new or inventive in the story, whereas director Barry Levinson at times shows too much sympathies towards Siegel - he even says something about his legacy when he adds towards the end that his casinos earned 100 billion $ up until 1991, placing him a monument as if those casinos are a work of Mother Teresa. Yet, on the other hand, he also shows Siegel in unglamourous light: in one scene, he offers a mobster 25 % of shares in his investment, and in case that he says no, he immediately gives him a gun to shoot him. He forces his greedy associate who robbed him to walk like a pig, whereas he even planned to assassinate Mussolini. Ben Kingsley shows up in a small role as Lansky, giving the best performance in the ensemble.

Grade:++

Comedian Harmonists

Comedian Harmonists; Drama, Germany/ Austria/ USA, 1997; D: Joseph Vilsmaier, S: Ulrich Noethen, Ben Becker, Meret Becker, Heino Ferch

Berlin, '27. Jew Harry lives in a shabby apartment and decides to organize a singing group based on the American role-model "The Revellers". He gets 5 members, among them Collin and Cycowsky, creating the "Comedian Harmonists". Despite difficulties and failure, the six of them manages to appear on stage and attract attention. Soon, their career becomes really successful, until the rise of the rise of the Nazi regime since three of them are Jews. They even go to New York while Harry admits his love to Anna. In '35, the group falls apart when the Jewish members have to leave.

Biographical drama "Comedian Harmonists" is a good, but too standard film. From the opening, in which the curtains are raised and reveal the group on stage, director Joseph Vilsmaier takes a distant approach towards the characters, since the 3 out of 6 members of the group are pure extras. The character of Harry ended up becoming the most developed ones, mostly because of his ironic attitude towards the fact that he is a Jew in Germany during the 30s ("You know what race the Jews are? Semites. And Germans? Antisemites."), whereas the story crafts a few predictable solutions for such a genre, among them the moment where a Nazi officer asks for his autograph. Sadly, the events and situations are too mild while the surprises are too few, which is why the film, as a whole, is solid, but routine piece of cinema.

Grade:++

Buenos Aires 1977

Cronica de una fuga; Thriller, Argentina, 2006; D: Israel Adrian Caetano, S: Rodrigo de la Serna, Pablo Echarri, Nazareno Casero

Buenos Aires in the 70s, during Jorge Videla's military junta. Claudio, a soccer player, gets suddenly kidnapped by members of the secret military police, bound, blindfolded and imprisoned into an abandoned mansion. Together with other prisoners, Guillermo, El Gallego and El Vasco, are tortured and abused by the police who suspect they are leftist rebels. Claudio is innocent and finds out one of the prisoners just mentioned his name because he had to give the police any kind of information, even false one. After over 120 days, the four naked prisoners manage to escape through the window and go to the street. They find clothes and leave the country.

An example of "Argentinian new cinema", nominated for the Golden Palm in Cannes, "Buenos Aires 1977" is a deeply disturbing, dark and depressing chronicle of human aggression unleashed through the abuse of power. Just like in Pasolini's "Salo", the innocent characters in this film get kidnapped by the secret military police and tortured in terrible ways for over 120 days, except that here director Caetano has an even more justified approach since these things really happened in his country during the "Dirty War" where some 20,000 people disappeared without a trace. With great camera angles and visual style - one of the best examples is the scene where the protagonist takes his blindfold off for the first time when he is brought to his "cell", and the camera makes an 360 degree turn to show the four walls he is in - the authors managed to create a tight 'kammerspiel', creating the claustrophobic tone since the majority of the film plays out only inside the old mansion. A few serious complaints could be directed towards the too grey approach and some ellipses - like the too abrupt cut from "Day 1" to "Day 31" - yet the suspenseful finale where the four naked prisoners escape and run through the streets at night really are shocking and seize the attention. The actors also did a great job, despite the fact that some have criticized the story for only trying to make a political stand.

Grade:++

Breaking Away

Breaking Away; Tragicomedy, USA, 1979; D: Peter Yates, S: Dennis Christopher, Paul Dooley, Dennis Quaid, Jackie Earle Haley, Daniel Stern, Barbara Barrie

Bloomington, Indiana. Dave, Mike, Cyril and Moocher are four teenage friends who have finished high school and don't know what to do with their boring lives, trapped in province. The college students taunt them, calling them "Cutters", because their parents were stone cutters. Having no better role model, Dave becomes fascinated with Italians and bicycles. When he meets a student, Katherine, he even introduces himself as an Italian. When a bicycle race is announced, Dave trains hard and participates against the college kids. Despite difficulties, he wins the 1st prize.

A gentle-melancholic 'slice-of-life' teenage tragicomedy, winner of a BAFTA (best newcomer Dennis Christopher), a Golden Globe (best motion picture - Musical or Comedy) and an Oscar (best screenplay), "Breaking Away" is today a rather forgotten film, but it is still wonderful and features at least two immortal quotes that will always say something about life, no matter how little viewers knows about it: the first one is when the four friends are walking through the nature and one of them suddenly says: "It was somewhere around here...(stops) It was precisely here where I lost all interest in life". The second one is when Mike laments how there's nothing going on in his life and how he is afraid that "it will be wasted", upon which his pal Cyril adds: "I thought that was our plan: to waste the rest of our lives together". There are many great lines in the story, but in those two particularly the viewers can feel the characters' deep sadness of living 'under your possibilities' through the prism of uplifting humor.

The whole film is full of easily identifiable moments and Paul Dooley's comic role of Dave's crazy dad is a delight, whereas the bicycle race in the finale is a tour-de-force example of rhythm, despite the predictable ending: obviously, just like in "Tom & Jerry", the viewers always slide towards the side of the weaker one, the "underdog", hoping he/she will beat the snobbish favorite, and the same goes for that finale where everyone cheers for Dave to win against the college brats, but since it was one of the earlier examples, it seems fresh. The movie is not flawless, though: it is comprised out of small vignettes of life and thus seems over-crammed, episodic and unexciting, Daniel Stern's character of Cyril seems more like an extra than a really strong character, the story is somehow colloid while some jokes are rather too mild. Still, director Peter Yates crafts a really wonderful small film that has inspiration and gives inspiration.

Grade:+++

Lebanon

Levanon; War drama, Israel/ Germany/ France/ Lebanon, 2009; D: Samuel Maoz, S: Michael Moshonov, Oshri Cohen, Itay Tiran, Yoav Donat, Zohar Shtrauss

4 young Israeli soldiers; Yigal, Assi, Hertzl and Shmulik, are inside a tank and get an order to drive it into Lebanon during the '82 war, as a support for a IDF unit. They stop at a road and look through the telescop of the horrors outside. The nervous Yigal shoots at an approaching truck and kills the driver, a civilian who was transporting chickens. Driving through a Lebanese town after IDF's bombardment, they witness Arabs taking a family as a human shield on the floor. After their tank gets damaged when a rocket hits it, their leader, Jamil, advises them to follow a Phalangist to safety. Yagil dies, while their tanks stops in a meadow.

"You only see the small picture. You have to look at the bigger picture", tells one of the characters through the course of the film "Lebanon". It's funny that they said that, because unlike a mass of war films that neatly present to the viewers everything about the conflict in question, always giving them the bigger picture served on a silver plate, "Lebanon" actually does the exact opposite - it serves to the viewers only the smaller picture. The narrow perspective of the 4 soldiers in a tank who don't know exactly what is going on outside. The whole film is presented through their perspective, from inside the tank, with only the telescope as a "window" to the outside. Not since Hitchcock's "Rope" has there been such an experimental and inventive approach to a story, creating a suspenseful 'kammerspiel' of the 4 protagonists. So many films chew out old cliches again and again, which is why it's so refreshing to see someone take a risk and do something new like here.

Director Samuel Maoz re-creates some of his traumatic experiences in the '82 Lebanon war as a therapeutic essay and thus shocks a lot, but he never does it without a reason, which is why everything has its why and because. For instance, one of the 4 IDF soldiers in the tank loses his nerves and shoots at an approaching truck on the road. It turns out it was just a civilian, who was only transporting chickens. One other scene, where they use their telescope to observe a dying donkey on the road, who seems to be crying, is one of the most emotionally devastating moments of the decade. And yet everything has its reason and wisdom. The scene where an Arab woman's dress catches fire and she stays almost naked on the street along the IDF lines is another example of staggering writing/ experience. Maybe the film does lose some of its power in the second half and turns slightly pretentious towards the end, yet it cannot be denied that as a whole it is a bravura directed piece of filmmaking and one of the best films on the topic of the '82 Lebanon War.

Grade:+++